This invention relates to catheters which are used to drain urine from the bladders of male patients.
Conventional catheters have one end inserted into a patient's urethral canal and positioned in the bladder while the remaining end is received in a urine receptacle. The catheter is then secured in position to prevent it from being expelled. The conventional or Foley catheter is secured in position by means of a diaphragm associated with the end of the catheter and which is inserted into the bladder and inflated. When the catheter is to be inserted or removed the membrane is in a deflated state. When the end of the catheter has been positioned within the bladder a syringe filled with sterilized water is used to force water into the inflatable membrane. The inflated membrane retains the end of the catheter in the bladder.
The Foley catheter is not without shortcomings. It is expensive to produce the bi-tubular catheter having the inflatable diaphragm. The securing of the catheter requires the use of a syringe which has been prefilled with sterile water. Another defect of this catheter is that it must sometimes remain in the patient for several days at a time and can irritate the bladder.
A dangerous disadvantage of this type of catheter is that misuse can cause serious injury to the patient. It is not uncommon for elderly or delirious patients to attempt and sometimes succeed in removing the catheter without deflating the membrane. This results in serious trauma to the patient's urethra.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide an improved catheter which is low in cost, safe and easy to use and which can be secured in place without the need for an inflatable diaphragm.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a catheter which will not cause excessive trauma to the urinary track if it is improperly removed.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the specifications which follow.